


Sour to Sweet (hopefully)

by CrackheadMossMan



Series: Kirby - Viva Piñata AU [6]
Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Meta is an asshole: the story, Viva Piñata AU, gooey and dark matter are brothers, memory problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29651061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrackheadMossMan/pseuds/CrackheadMossMan
Summary: Kirby wants to get rid of Meta Knight’s sourness by finding out what he likes! Only problem is that he can’t remember anything he likes before he went sour, and now Kirby and Meta Knight have to visit old friends and hope Meta Knight doesn’t lean too far into his sour nature.
Series: Kirby - Viva Piñata AU [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2169591
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	1. The Matter Brothers

Meta Knight sat down, wings lied across the floor as he humored the kid, even if he was extremely bored. 

Kirby always made an effort to talk to him, despite what everybody did. No matter how many times Kirby was warned, Meta Knight was threatened, and times Kirby got forcefully ripped away from the sour reaper, Kirby still tried. It was  _ very  _ amusing to Meta Knight, and any headache he had or pain he ignored always felt a little better whenever someone got angry with him for talking with the new gardener. 

Now, Kirby was talking to him outside his own tree, early in the morning before Bandana Dee or maybe even Dedede came to check on the garden

“So, I got an idea!” Kirby shouted, enthusiasm in their voice, stars in their eyes. Meta Knight suppressed an eye roll. Talking to Kirby was a decent distraction from the soreness of just existing as a sour fuck up. “So you know how sour piñatas can get fixed if you make them a resident?”

Meta’s eyes widened as he cringed. Even his wings tensed a little. 

No. 

Hell no. 

He didn’t care much for Kirby, but he didn’t want to set this kid’s expectations up and then crush them. He may be sour, but he isn’t a fucking monster. Meta Knight knew he was beyond repair. 

“Well, I thought maybe we could find some things you like and mess around until you’re sweet!” Kirby said, pure pride to their voice as they were clearly proud of their idea.

“...Kirby…” Meta Knight sighed, face palming. “...I’m not a damn  _ piñata _ .” 

“But you’re sour! What things do you like?” Kirby continued to push, and Meta Knight practically growled out of frustration due to Kirby’s unwillingness to listen. 

“I’m  _ human.  _ There’s no ‘resident loophole’ for me to be fixed,” Meta Knight said, tone clearly frustrated and angry. He knew it was useless. If he could, he would jump at the chance to get rid of the sourness. While he technically had immunity and very fast healing, it came with far too many downsides.

“But we have to try!” Kirby shouted, cheeks puffing in frustration. 

“ _ No,”  _ Meta Knight snarled, getting ready to end the conversation there, and starting to get up. 

Kirby grabbed his wing,  _ tightly _ , for the grip of a kid. While Meta was too surprised to phase through, Kirby took the chance to speak. 

“Please!” There was pure desperation in the gardener’s voice. Meta’s brows furrowed as he thought. 

...his headache was already coming back. 

“Fine…” he mumbled, just wanting something to distract him. Kirby smiled brightly. 

“So what do you like? We can start there!” Kirby excitedly said, watching as Meta kneeled back down, obviously irritated. 

Meta Knight thought for a moment. He… wasn’t sure what he liked. “...breaking piñatas, collecting weeds, and…” He dragged a hand through his hair which had been growing white and seemed almost like fog as he thought. “Messing with people,” he finished, voice unsure. 

Kirby frowned, shaking their head. “No! I meant  _ before  _ you were sour!”

Meta Knight thought for almost a minute. His hand tightened his grip on his hair tightly, and he hoped the pressure on his scalp would jog his memory. 

...there were vague memories. Though they had been blended with others or dreams, like some sort of abstract painting. They mixed over each other and only a few were easy to grasp at. “...I…” Blurred faces with vague silhouettes were all he could think of. “...I remember… that blue person who likes… seeds, I think?” His nose scrunched up in frustration as he continued to dig at memories. 

“Gooey?” Kirby asked, tilting their head. 

Meta Knight nodded, though a little unsure. “...and some girl with… mechanical hands. She would catch piñatas.”

“That’s Sectonia!” Kirby smiled, happy that Meta was cooperating. 

“...then… I worked for… what was his name again..” Meta Knight tightly gripped his hair, hand shaking as he desperately tried to jog his memory. 

...he didn’t remember any fond things about these people. He just knew he thought of them highly and fondly. “...Dedede…” Meta Knight definitely remembered Dedede. Not from memories, but because the old gardener was very fun to antagonize. 

“...I don’t remember anything else…” Kirby picked up on how Meta’s tone sounded surprised. And almost… scared. “I don’t… know what I liked,” his shoulders shook as he finally released his hair and shook his head with a pained chuckle. “I don’t even remember my own face.” 

Kirby frowned, but grabbed his hand, and stood up. “Then we can find out through them!” 

“Wait-“ Meta Knight mumbled, trying to warn Kirby about the possibility that they don’t want to see him. Though Kirby lent him no ears, instead dragging the sour reaper to the Swamp. 

“Let’s see Gooey! They talk about you a lot!”

…

Meta Knight didn’t know how to feel about this.

~ || • || ~

Kirby knocked on the door of the house in the swamp enthusiastically, while Meta Knight leaned against the wall, cape tightly wrapped around himself as he cringed at the disgusting scenery. He already felt his boots getting heavy with mud. 

“Oh! Hi, DMS!” Kirby said, and Meta Knight looked over in confusion. He never heard of someone called DMS before… 

They had very long, curly, black hair that seemed to spike out in all directions. Their mask only covered their eyes, yet only showed one eye that glared at him with irritation. They wore a very long dark scarf, the pattern barely visible as it wrapped around their mouth, completely covering it. They also wore something similar to a poncho that bore a colorful triangular pattern among the rim. It covered nearly their whole body, showing only the bottom of their dirty and muddy black boots. 

They didn’t say anything, only waved at Kirby with that annoyed gaze and looked at Meta Knight. Their hands, covered with long drooping sleeves and gloves with an eye pattern pushed aside the poncho and made gestures. 

Meta Knight quickly realized it was sign language. 

He wasn’t sure exactly what they said, but he roughly translated a greeting and asked who he was, to Kirby. 

“Oh! This is Meta Knight!” Kirby answered, gesturing to Meta Knight, who uncomfortably waved. 

He wondered if he could mess with this guy somehow. Then Meta’s eyes drifted to DMS’ patch with a sour pattern. It didn’t take a genius to connect a dot and realize those were seeds for weeds. 

So that’s why Meta had been coming across more gardens that were rampant with toxic weeds, and so many sick piñatas. It was because of them. 

...maybe he shouldn’t mess with them. He didn’t feel like getting the world’s worst headache and getting stuck with even more piñatas to break. 

DMS narrowed his eye at Meta, then looked back at Kirby. ‘Why are you here?’ They signed something along those lines. 

“To see Gooey!” Kirby blurted out, and Meta Knight had to keep from laughing at how blunt the kid was. 

‘Wait,’ they signed before leaving. 

“...what the fuck does DMS even stand for?” Meta Knight asked with a grouchy voice once the strange person was out of sight.

“I don’t know!” Kirby gleefully said, their body swaying from side to side as they waited. 

Eventually, a vaguely familiar person came through the door. They looked similar to DMS, though younger and wearing a much more colorful outfit. “Ohhh!! Hi Kirby and…” all it took was for Meta Knight to recognize Gooey was the slurred words. “Meta Knight!!” They shouted, running at Meta Knight and hugging him tightly. 

“It’s been so long!” Gooey laughed, and Meta Knight just barely managed to resist every nerve in his body screaming at him to shove Gooey and scream at them to get off him. Instead, they uncomfortably patted their head. 

“..yeah..” Meta Knight said, clearly uncomfortable. He looked away from Gooey and saw DMS glaring at him from inside the house. 

“You look different! What happened?” Gooey asked, clueless. Meta’s eyes widened at the question. 

(-Did Gooey not hear about what he became? Or did they not recognize the sour pattern that’s all over his clothing? Or is this just their poor memory…-)

Meta’s thoughts bounced around, not even realizing that they remembered something. “...nothing,” Meta Knight didn’t want to open that can of worms. 

“Oh… well it looks really cool! Come on!! I missed you!” Now it was Gooey’s turn to drag the grouchy Meta Knight in their home, Kirby giggling at the excited Gooey as DMS closed the door behind them. 

“So why’d you decide to visit now?” Gooey asked, happily sitting on the floor as Kirby and Meta Knight sat on a rather comfortable couch. DMS sat on a small chair in the cramped room, arms crossed, as they continued to watch. 

Meta Knight tapped his fingers against his leg as he tried to think of something. Thankfully, Kirby had him covered. 

“Meta Knight has had trouble remembering things, so we wanted to see if you could help!” Kirby asked, gesturing to Gooey as they kicked his legs. 

DMS’ eye widened as they looked towards Gooey, who seemed a little anxious. “Oh uh..” Gooey started, their fingers anxiously picking at their nails. “I’m not very… good at rememberin’ things..” the words slurred as they spoke. 

“That’s fine! We just need to know if you remember what Meta Knight likes!” Kirby asked, and Meta Knight nodded. He didn’t feel the need to add on. 

‘Why? Did he hit his head?’ DMS signed, and Meta Knight tried not to laugh. Even if it was giving him a headache. 

“Nope!” Kirby hummed.

DMS narrowed their eye, suspicious, but Gooey didn’t care. 

“Oh! I remember that!” Gooey perked up, his long pink scarf bouncing as he did. Meta Knight sat up a little, listening. 

He knew it was useless still, but…

He still yearned to go back. 

“We talked a lot about seeds… and fertilizer! You always went with me to collect seeds and I would tell you stuff about them! I remember you also talking about how you liked to arrange trees, bushes, flowers, and make gardens  _ p _ o _ p _ !” Gooey waved their arms as they spoke, putting emphasis on the ‘p’s in pop. 

“Huh…” Meta Knight thought. He couldn’t imagine himself rambling about that stuff, let alone enjoying organizing and making gardens look nice. 

“Ooh! That sounds like fun! Maybe you can help me with that in my garden!” Kirby said, leaning against Meta Knight who abruptly pushed the kid away, scowling at them. Kirby frowned, but didn’t let up. DMS only hardened their suspicious stare at Meta, who was losing their patience. 

“I can give you some seeds to help!” Gooey sprang up from the ground so quickly that Meta jumped. Kirby’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm, and that was all that was needed for Kirby and Gooey to leave to pick out seeds. 

And now DMS and Meta Knight were left alone. 

Meta’s head was killing him, and DMS only made it worse by starting to speak. 

‘What are you doing here?’ Meta roughly translated. He narrowed his eyes, and signed back, keeping his movements slow as he struggled to remember. 

‘Trying to remember things.’ Meta Knight struggled to not be a jerk. 

‘Stop lying.’ Meta Knight read, and that was all it took to tick him off. Though DMS continued. ‘Why do you look like that? What are you trying to do?’

‘You have amazing manners. Great way to treat a guest,’ Meta grinned under his mask, and he could see DMS’ anger and frustration rise. 

‘You are an inconvenience, not a guest. Kirby is a guest.’ 

Meta Knight scoffed, shifting his position to where he was laying across the couch. He could see DMS’ eye widen with shock as his cape shifted to wings, and he sprawled them over the couch and let one hang off the side. His headache was clearing already. Now that he was in the sour mindset, he couldn’t stop. 

‘Got any piñatas? Because I can tell there’s some real fresh candy in here, and I’m dying to break something.’

DMS’ eye twitched with rage. Meta could already feel his headache clearing up. ‘You wouldn’t.’

Meta Knight laughed, causing DMS to jump. ‘I would. I have the life candy in my home to prove it. Would you like to see it?’

DMS stood up. ‘You’re disgusting.’

‘Close. I’m sour.’

DMS reached for their pouch, glaring. Meta Knight cackled, his hand on his face as he tried to quiet his laughter. ‘Don’t do that to some poor gardener.’ Meta Knight stood up, stretching his wings out. They were a lot bigger than DMS originally thought, and they couldn’t help but back away as Meta Knight approached. 

“What do you think happens to every piñata that gets sick from your weeds? What happens to every piñata that can’t recover in time?” Meta Knight felt amazing as DMS started to connect the dots, the stress showing on their eye and as they cowered. “ _ I  _ put them out of the misery  _ you  _ gave them,” Meta Knight practically growled at DMS, who cowered in the shadow of their wings that normally took up all the space in the room once they were fully spread out. 

Then he heard the footsteps of Gooey and Kirby. He remembered why he was here.

Meta Knight backed off, grinning as DMS sat down too, still a little shaken. Meta Knight sat on the couch lazily, their wings forming back into their cape. He didn’t feel bad. DMS was pissing him off and he needed that headache to go away anyway. 

“Meta! I got so many cool seeds!” Kirby ran up to Meta Knight, a bag of many colorful and fun shaped seeds. As Meta looked at them, he could see DMS from the corner of his eye, standing up and walking to Kirby. 

“What do you think?” Gooey slurred, sitting next to Meta Knight. 

“...they’re… very cool,” Meta Knight glared at DMS, who was signing something to Kirby. He couldn’t see it completely, but he knew exactly what he was saying as he watched Kirby’s expression fall. 

Kirby signed something back, a now serious look on the kid‘s face. He noticed an apology as Kirby signed. Meta Knight groaned, holding the bag of seeds and looked at Gooey, who seemed confused. 

“Okay, Meta. It’s… fine for us to leave,” Kirby tried sounding happy, but mostly sounded disappointed. 

Meta Knight shrugged, and patted Gooey’s head. “See you again, soon,” he lied. Gooey waved goodbye as Kirby began to drag Meta Knight out of the house. He could feel DMS’ angry glare practically burning into him as he left. 

Once the door slammed shut, Kirby sighed, looking at Meta Knight. “...Why did you do that?”

Meta Knight shrugged. “It felt good.” There was no use in lying. 

“Don’t do that! They’re my friends and it took forever to get DMS to trust me!” Kirby stomped their feet in frustration, continuing to drag Meta Knight out of the swamp. 

“Fiine,” Meta practically whined, letting Kirby drag him to the direction to the village. 

“...we’re going to visit Sectonia. Don’t be mean,” Kirby huffed. Admittedly, Meta Knight did feel a little bad, but the feeling of the pain relief of being an asshole was so much more worth it than suffering through the physical pain of being nice. 

“I’ll try,” Meta Knight lied. 


	2. Sectonia

Meta Knight followed closely behind Kirby, on the main path in the village towards Sectonia’s shop. Kirby still seemed pretty upset, but Meta Knight couldn’t help but focus on the people staring at him. They either had shocked faces, terrified faces, his personal favorite: enraged faces, or they looked at the ground and sped up their pace. 

Normally, Meta Knight would thrive in the negative attention, but he was focusing on something else. Some faces felt almost familiar. Not as people he recognized when breaking their piñatas, in that case he would feel that way about everyone, but it was a different feeling. He squinted at someone, trying to get a better look since one of his eyes struggled to work properly.

He felt like he knew them, but before he had the chance to recognize them they made eye contact, looked down, and sped up. 

He scoffed, a little frustrated.

“Here we are!” Kirby said, sounding upbeat and like their usual self again. 

Meta Knight squinted at the sign. It had the so-called “Sectonia”‘s face on it, and it  _ did  _ look very familiar. 

“...just… don’t be mean. Please,” Kirby said, and Meta Knight sighed.

“Alright,” he nodded. He couldn’t make any real promises, but he did want answers. 

Despite how much fun he had and the amazing feeling in those moments of being awful, everything else was awful. He  _ wanted _ freedom again, he  _ wanted  _ friends, to be a gardener, to be able to remember, to see Dedede again-

He shook his head as Kirby entered the shop, then followed. He… he hesitated before going through the doorway. Sectonia hadn’t seen him outside and he could already hear a familiar, kind voice talking to Kirby. He shook off the feeling and pushed through, entering the shop and closing the door behind him. 

He saw the familiar woman- no-  _ Sectonia _ ’s face fall from delight to a more… mixed expression once she saw him. He didn’t say anything, and only waved. 

“...I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to ask him to leave,” she said to Kirby. He remembered her voice vaguely. It was always so light and polite (or at least he thinks so), but her voice was now demanding.

He supposed he deserved it, even if he couldn’t remember doing anything to her. 

“I’m right here,” Meta Knight sighed, walking up closer. He felt his cape shift as he instinctively started to twist them into his wings, but quickly stopped it and wrapped it around himself tightly. He didn’t want to scare her. He wanted information. 

“Then you can walk out that door yourself,” Sectonia narrowed her eyes at Meta Knight. “I’m not going to catch piñatas just for you to break them.”

Already forgetting about how he didn’t want to antagonize her, Meta Knight laughed. “Why would I pay you to catch a piñata when I can just go over to your pitiful little garden and break one for free?” 

And that earned a harsh punch and glare from Kirby. Probably would’ve hurt, but it didn’t.

“...sorry,” Meta Knight sighed. Sectonia’s fierce glare made it obvious that she didn’t accept the apology. Fuck- Meta actually felt bad. 

Sectonia sighed, one of her extra mechanical hands rubbing her temples in frustration. “Kirby,  _ why  _ is he here,” she asked. Meta Knight rolled his eyes, backing away from her and sitting on a chair on the other side of the room, bored.

“We’re trying to figure out what he used to like!” Kirby said, gesturing to Meta Knight who stared. 

“Well let’s find out!” Sectonia smiled. “What did you used to like, Meta Knight?” She was teasing him. This wasn’t the friendly kind like before though.

How did he remember that. 

Meta Knight stroked his hair with his hands, as he struggled to think. “...Gooey said that I liked…” Meta Knight started to take this seriously. He turned his hand into a fist and lightly hit the top of his head a few times, hoping that would work. “...arranging plants… I think… though that doesn’t… sound like me..” Meta Knight rambled, the confusion on his face clear. 

“You… really don’t remember?” Sectonia gasped, her expression morphing to one of pity and almost horror. 

Meta Knight shook his head. “Nope. I don’t even.. I don’t even remember… uh.. I don’t really remember you,” Meta Knight chuckled. Kirby looked at him sadly. Meta Knight wished he could say- that he could  _ believe _ that it wasn’t that big of a deal. He knew it wasn’t. He knew this wasn’t normal, and that it was severe. 

Sectonia shook her head, huffing. “What kind of sick joke is this,” she asked. Meta’s eyes widened, confused. Even Kirby tilted their head.

“You- out of nowhere you just… disappear. Without telling anyone. You were just.. gone and I was so.. worried. Especially since Dedede came back to the garden wrecked and you gone. We tried looking for you, but… you went and joined Nightmare!” Sectonia ranted, all six arms waving around as she got increasingly frustrated. 

“I… I thought we’d never find you again, until I heard those rumors. And I  _ really  _ thought that you would never do that. That it was a mistake, but you really went and joined that pest...” Sectonia sounded so sad. Like she had kept it bottled up for so long. She sighed, looking down at the counter. 

“...I fucking hate Nightmare,” Meta Knight scoffed. “I  _ try  _ to avoid him as much as possible, I even try to keep piñatas away from him!” 

“Then why do you break piñatas! Why are you so  _ cruel  _ to everyone? Why did you come in here, threatening my piñatas and then suddenly claim that you can’t remember anything!” Sectonia shouted again. 

Meta Knight scratched his head, feeling the headache start to come back. “I  _ have  _ to,” Meta Knight growled. 

“Because Nightmare told you?” Sectonia asked, angry. Kirby stayed out of the conversation, too nervous to jump in. 

Meta Knight’s cape twisted into his wings, flaring up in frustration as he shouted. “ _ YES _ ! Okay? Happy?!” Meta Knight snapped.

Sectonia eyed the wings, clearly in shock. It took her a moment before she understood what Meta said. Meta Knight huffed, wings relaxing and slowly lowering to the floor. He knew he didn’t give enough context, so he’d have to continue. 

“Every sour has a purpose,” he started, eyes going from Sectonia to the ground. His voice practically growled as he spoke, as he was extremely uncomfortable. He brushed his hair with his hand as he spoke. “Sherbats bite pinatas and make them sick. Cocoadiles chase and bite helpers. Bonboons start fights, s’morepions paralyze piñatas, the list goes on,” he continued, getting more stressed as he spoke. He hated talking about this stuff. It made him realize just how severe and awful his situation really was. “Then there’s me. I’m stuck with the task of putting sick piñatas out of their misery and giving their candy to Nightmare so he can make more sours. I’ve… managed to resist taking the candy to him-“ Meta Knight grinned a little, calming down. 

“But there’s something so relieving, so  _ euphoric _ , when breaking a piñata and all the pain just floods away.” Meta Knight chuckled, relaxing completely as he remembered that feeling. That was something he could never give up. 

“That’s disgusting,” Sectonia mumbled, crossing all six arms. Meta Knight narrowed his eyes at her. 

“I don’t  _ work  _ for Nightmare. And even then I still suffer from that decision! The only way I can fucking feel alive again is when I’m doing something you all CONDEMN me for!” 

“YOU’VE DESTROYED SO MUCH OF PEOPLE’S WORK AND LAUGHED!”

“WELL, I’M  _ SORRY  _ THAT IT’S THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES ME FEEL ANYWHERE NEAR HUMAN! I’M SORRY THAT I HAVE TO DO AWFUL THINGS AND ENJOY THEM BECAUSE I’M JUST ANOTHER SOUR!” Meta Knight shouted, hands twisting into fists as his wings flared up in fury. He stepped closer to Sectonia, who started to back up and looked scared. Kirby grabbed his wrist, tightly. 

Meta Knight glanced towards Kirby, who looked at him with a fierce gaze. Thankfully, Meta Knight seemed to realize how unnecessary he was being, backing up but still remaining tense. “...my apologies,” he quickly muttered, his wings folding behind him.

Sectonia shook her head, mumbling something under her breath. “You’re forgetting something, Meta. Humans can’t be sour,” she said, leaning against the counter and avoiding eye contact with him.

Before Meta Knight could lose his temper again, Kirby tightened their grip on his wrist and spoke. “He’s sour!” They shouted, finally able to get their say out. Sectonia stared at him, not believing Kirby, while Meta Knight nodded. 

“I saw it! He has those patterns, like- the weird twisty ones. They aren’t just on his clothes they’re on his skin… and they don’t look like the tattoos the demon beasts have. They look real!” Kirby continued, and Sectonia’s eyes started to widen as she realized they weren’t messing with her.

“...and I’m fairly confident the demon beasts aren’t stuck with pain,” Meta Knight grumbled, crossing his arms bitterly.

“You’re… actually sour..?” Sectonia muttered, a strange mixture of horror and pity dawning on her face as she realized. Meta Knight nodded. Sectonia gulped anxiously. 

“So.. why do you need to remember what you liked before?” She asked, the fingers on her mechanical anxiously intertwining. “..why?”

Meta Knight opened his mouth to answer, before Kirby interrupted him. “We’re gonna see if doing things he used to like can fix him! Like making sour pinatas happy and then going back to normal!” Kirby seemed very excited to help Meta Knight, who just muttered “I’m not a fucking pinata.”

“Oh… well have you tried eating candy?” Sectonia asked, leaning against the counter. 

“... _ What _ ?” Meta asked, nudging Kirby as the kid giggled. 

“Well, as Pinata Island’s fetching and pinata expert…” Sectonia started, starting to relax a little. Meta Knight relaxed upon seeing that as well. “I can say that a sour is filled with sour candy. They just need a little sweetness to soften up, and either other pinata’s life candy, or their favorite snacks, grants them that. So we can try giving you some candy and it’ll hopefully make things easier!”

Meta Knight shivered in disgust. “Absolutely not. It’s not even edible!” Meta Knight shook his head, his face cringing under his mask.

“Yes, it is. It’s probably just nasty to you since you’re sour,” Sectonia had a familiar goofy smile on her face, enjoying her revenge. “Come on, what do you have to lose?”

“...I would say my dignity, but I think I lost that by coming here,” Meta Knight remarked, sighing in defeat. Sectonia’s laugh rang through the shop. It was a familiar laugh, and Meta Knight relaxed completely hearing it. It was familiar. It was nice. Something he didn’t feel often.

“Oh! I brought candy! I always have some on me for a snack!” Kirby shouted, eyes sparkling as they reached in their pocket and pulled out two candies.

“Great job, Kirby,” Sectonia chuckled, smiling at the kid.

“Perfect,” Meta Knight sarcastically groaned, holding out his hand as Kirby dropped one in his hand and started to unwrap the other.

“I really hope this works. I’m so tired of losing my pinatas to you,” Sectonia joked, but Meta Knight could tell she still meant it. 

“Me too,” Meta shuddered as he stared at the candy. Cringing, Meta Knight pulled his mask just above his mouth. Sectonia covered her mouth in shock when she saw just a little bit of the sour patterns twisting. He quickly pulled it back down to get back the comfort of having his face covered.

And to also avoid spitting back the overly sweet poison.

The second Meta Knight felt the taste of the candy, he fought the urge to retch and swallowed it down without chewing. He bent over coughing, trying not to choke, as Kirby laughed and Sectonia looked at him with a smug smile on his face.

It tasted like fucking rat poison. Even after he swallowed it, he felt the taste linger on his tongue and he wanted to burn off his taste buds. 

“That is disgusting!” He growled once he was done trying not to choke to death, as Sectonia and Kirby were bent over laughing. 

As much as he enjoyed their laughter, he didn’t like it when it was  _ at  _ him. Though he didn’t do anything, he knew he deserved it. 

“Feel anything?” Sectonia asked, still giggling with Kirby. 

“...Er.. my… chest feels  _ off…  _ and my throat hurts,” Meta Knight mumbled, clutching his shirt with his hand. It  _ hurt _ . Badly. 

“That might mean it’s working!!” Kirby gasped, smiling brightly. 

“I hope so. I’d give anything to get you back to the nice Meta Knight!” Sectonia shouted, expecting a glare from Meta Knight, but he simply stared at the floor. 

Sectonia raised an eyebrow, expecting a reaction from him. Instead Meta Knight started to simply stumble around, wings spreading as he tried to catch his balance. 

“Oh no-“ Sectonia mumbled. She  _ really  _ thought it would work or at least make him nicer. Kirby immeadiatly ran up to Meta Knight, bombarding him with “I’m sorry”s and “are you okay”s. Meta Knight pushed Kirby off him, still stumbling around nearly falling over. 

“Go get a fucking trash can-“ he spat, basically ripping his mask off as he gagged. Kirby looked around, and Sectonia gasped as she saw Meta Knight’s face. 

It looked vaguely like how he remembered him, but the structure of his face looked slightly off, and the sour patterns twisting from his face and the burning eyes that looked like they belonged to a ghost made her hair stand on end. She snapped back to reality when Kirby quickly snatched the trash can next to her, running and giving it to Meta Knight. 

The reaper wasted no time in snatching it, his wings wrapping around him protectively, as he retched. Kirby covered their ears, disgusted, while Sectonia did the same, only muttering a quiet “ew.” Eventually, Meta Knight got it out and took a moment to catch his breathing. 

“...are you okay?” Kirby asked, cautiously walking up to him. They couldn’t even see Meta’s face to see how they were doing due to the massive wings protectively (and shakily) covering him. 

“...just go get my mask,” he panted. 

“Here..” Sectonia mumbled, feeling bad as a mechanical hand scooped up the mask and stretched over to Meta Knight. He rudely snatched the mask, quickly strapping it back on and standing up like nothing had happened.

“...I am.. not cleaning that,” Sectonia shuddered. 

“You’re lucky it wasn’t how it usually was. Because I ate some fucking poison candy, it just came back up as sour candy,” Meta Knight said, completely unfazed by how nasty it still was, kicking the trash can over to Sectonia who visibility shuddered. 

“Now, you owe me for that stupid idea,” he growled, holding his head and sitting down as he still felt quite nauseated. “Tell me what I used to be like so I can stop pestering you.”

Kirby sat next to Meta Knight for comfort, but the reaper moved away from the worried kid. 

“Well…” Sectonia started, still feeling pity for her old friend. “When you were first starting as a helper, you often came to me for advice. You’d come with me on catching pinatas, and I’d tell you everything about them. You were  _ very  _ enthusiastic about it, and whenever we actually caught one and were waiting for the gardener to pick it up, you’d stay with the piñata. Basically: you liked piñatas, too,” Her voice spoke fondly of the memories. The tone felt like a dagger of guilt stabbing into Meta Knight. 

“...this is hopeless,” he growled, holding his face in his hands.

“Why?” Kirby asked, tilting their head. They jumped back when Meta Knight shouted in frustration. 

“Well the first thing was organizing and making shit look nice! I can hardly see details with my fucked up eye, and that’s so  _ tedious  _ and I can’t even imagine myself doing that!” Meta Knight shouted, wings dropping to the floor and folding in. Sectonia crossed her arms, leaning against the counter, though her face had pity written all over it. “And now  _ piñatas!  _ I  _ break  _ piñatas now for fuck’s sake!” Meta Knight groaned in frustration, leaning back on the floor with his wings spread out. 

Sectonia’s eyes widened with realization. She remembered trying to help Meta Knight with attracting a piñata that Dedede had wanted. It was a very rare piñata, so Sectonia took the day off and went over to Dedede’s garden to help Meta Knight. They spent the whole day attempting to attract a tigermisu, and she very vividly remembered Meta Knight doing the exact same thing when he got frustrated and the sun fell: groaning loudly and laying on the ground with his hands on his face. 

It was something so small, but… after having to deal with Meta Knight acting nowhere near close to how he used to, and him just  _ almost  _ getting there but not crossing the line today… it was comforting to see that at least one thing remained the same. She just had to hope they could find a solution to actually fix him, considering he was insufferable now. Even with how much she pitied him, she couldn’t stand him for much longer. And she still couldn’t help but hate him. 

“Maybe Dedede will know something that will be easier!” Kirby tried to be optimistic, pulling Meta Knight back up with surprising strength. 

“I’m  _ sure  _ he will,” Meta Knight grumbled, his wings switching back to his cape as he reluctantly stood up.

“That’s the spirit!” Kirby said, heading to the door. “Oh- and thank you, Sectonia! I’ll make sure to bring a lot of chocolate coins next time I need a shellybean!” Kirby waved to Sectonia with a bright smile on their face. Sectonia returned the gesture with a wave of a mechanical hand and a soft and kind smile of her own. 

Kirby was the first to leave her shop, though Meta Knight hesitated and stood in the doorway. 

“I’m sorry for uh… suggesting the candy,” Sectonia awkwardly said. 

“...it’s fine. You were only trying to help,” Meta Knight muttered, his tone still bitter. “Thank you.”

“Well… please stop by once you’re no longer sour. I really do miss you,” Sectonia sadly said, her voice quiet. 

Meta Knight paused for a moment. “...don’t be disappointed when the next time you see me is at your garden instead of here,” Meta Knight responded, his voice almost sounding regretful. 

Before Sectonia even had a chance to respond, he left and shut the door behind him, following Kirby on the way towards Dedede’s, which he dreaded. 


	3. Dedede

Meta Knight followed Kirby closely as they made their way to Dedede’s shop. Meta Knight narrowed his eyes at anyone who passed by, watching as they quickly cowarded away. It didn’t feel nearly as relieving, as before. In fact, Meta Knight grimaced at how it gave him no freeing feeling at all. There was only a building feeling of dread deep in his chest as they got closer to Dedede’s. 

“Kirby,” Meta Knight stated. The young gardener looked back, a little surprised, but kept waking.

“Yeah?” They asked, a surprisingly amount of pep in their step. 

“You go into Dedede’s shop first. I’ll follow in soon after,” Meta Knight planned, glaring at another passerby, who quickly sped up. His nails dug into his palm at the lack of feeling he got from that. 

“Good idea!” Kirby hummed, hair bouncing as they practically skipped with every step. 

“Also,” Meta Knight huffed, eyes drifting to the dirt path as his voice lowered. “You are aware that the possibilities of this working are practically zero?”

“There’s still a possibility!” Kirby quickly responded, and their optimism only frustrated the sour knight.

“Yet everything we know is going to be useless! I _break_ piñatas, I don't waste my time organizing pointless stuff,” the reaper grumbled, feeling that infuriatingly common headache start to come back already. 

“But we won’t know if we don't try, and Dedede has to have something,” Kirby continued, stubborn as ever.

“And if he doesn’t?” Meta Knight practically growled, the words slipping through his sharp teeth. 

“We’ll still try! You want to get better, don’t you?” Kirby asked. Even if the question was genuine, Meta Knight, who had grown a habit of assuming the worst, took it as mockery.

“Do you think I’d waste my time with you if I didn’t? That I would waste my fucking time with  _ any  _ person here who I know wants me dead, if I wouldn’t?” He hissed, digging his nails deeper into his palm. 

Kirby paused, turning to Meta Knight. They narrowed their eyes at the sour reaper, who was steaming with anger and frustration. “Why are you so mean to everyone! I thought we were friends!” Kirby stomped their feet, but Meta Knight was just getting more ticked off. 

He was annoyed at how his headache wasn’t going away despite him antagonizing Kirby and the others around him.

He was irritated at how naive Kirby was, and how they weren’t being realistic. He understood that they were a child, but the kid had gotten his hopes up and he wasn’t going to let himself get disappointed. 

And he was infuriated at how optimistic Kirby was. Meta Knight wasn’t sure if he wanted that same optimism, but he knew for sure this wasn’t going to work. Nothing has. Nothing will. 

He gave up years ago trying to find a way back, and he gave up resisting the craving feeling of breaking a piñata and antagonizing whoever he could find. 

“...Let’s get this over with, then,” Meta Knight groaned, pushing past Kirby after ignoring their question. The kid opened their mouth to speak, but sighed, quickly walking back in front of Meta Knight. 

“Don’t be rude to him.  _ Don’t _ ,” Kirby said sternly, surprisingly the knight as they grew closer to his shop.

Meta Knight rolled their eyes, and soon enough, they were standing in front of the ex-gardener’s shop. Kirby went on in, the door shutting behind them, and Meta Knight stopped. 

That feeling of dread came back. 

Meta Knight hissed in pain, rubbing his temples as the headache became much more noticeable. He turned around, seeing if there was anyone he could anger to feel better. 

…there was nobody. 

And he didn’t bring any sour candy. 

He groaned loudly, sliding against the door and holding the side of his head in his hands. He considered banging it against the door, but that would be far too distracting for Kirby and Dedede inside the shop. He should’ve brought some damn sour candy. It was a great temporary fix for pain.

His cape awkwardly shifted to his wings, which he poorly tried to cover himself with. He really despised being vulnerable, especially in public.  _ Maybe,  _ he could handle Sectonia seeing him like this, but anybody else was a big no. 

Thankfully, it was only a minute before he heard the doorknob start to move. As quick as he could, his wings snapped to a cape, and he stood up and faced the door. He nearly stumbled, getting slightly dizzy from moving so fast, but the door opened and Kirby didn’t notice Meta’s dizziness. 

“Come on!” Kirby said, grabbing Meta Knight’s wrist and pulling him into Dedede’s shop. Meta started to focus more on the rising dread rather than his splitting headache. 

Meta Knight didn’t get the chance to say some rude remark, since he froze in place upon seeing Dedede’s staring daggers at him. He didn’t know why he felt so awful and twisted, especially since he loved to torment Dedede before. So why now did he feel like this?

“You got ten minutes,” Dedede growled, pure malice filling his voice. 

“I-“ Meta Knight started, but Kirby interrupted him. 

“All we know is that Meta Knight liked organizing and arranging things to make them look nice, and liked taking care of and catching piñatas! But… he doesn’t really enjoy either of them now, so we were hoping you knew something!” Kirby explained, voice speaking quickly so they had enough time. Meta Knight had a feeling that Kirby wouldn’t let him talk, so he pushed down the anger he felt at that and simply nodded. 

Dedede grumbled something under his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“A’ight. I’ll tell you what I know,” Dedede sighed, talking a little slow. “He liked anything that had to do with gardenin’.” Dedede counted with his fingers as he started to list things. “Caring for piñatas, experimenting, making them happy, arrangin’ things, watering plants, hell- he even liked diggin’ ponds,” he continued. 

Meta Knight looked down, surprised he used to enjoy all that. “Great,” he bitterly muttered under his breath, knowing he hated doing that stuff now.

“He also liked going to Rick’s pub with Sectonia an’ me. We used to talk a lot and play real stupid games there, and ya’ always enjoyed it,” Dedede sighed, his voice growing more nostalgic. “You were also obsessed with sword trivia, like- I literally couldn’t go one day without you tellin’ me all ‘bout some sword you learned about,” the builder chuckled, thinking fondly about those memories. Then he seemed to remember the present, quickly turning the chuckle into a cough. “...ya also used to like cheesecake, figgy pudding, and toffee apples. Anythin’ sweet really.” Dedede finished. 

“Thank you!” Kirby said, smiling brightly. Meta Knight failed to find any words, and despite the strong temptation and headache urging him to antagonize Dedede, he pushed it aside and simply nodded again. 

“You’re welcome. Now Meta Knight,  _ get out _ . Kirby, if you’re not gonna buy anythin’ I suggest you leave as well,” Dedede pointed to the door with his hammer. Kirby looked surprised and hurt, meanwhile Meta Knight just snapped. 

“ _ What _ ?” Meta growled, taking a step towards Dedede, while Kirby was quick to reach for his arm and try to grab him again. Meta Knight smacked his arm away, quickly going back to glaring at Dedede. 

“Y’all heard me. Sorry, not sorry, but I gave y’all your information. Unless that traitor wants to piss me off, then there’s no reason you two should be in my shop anymore. So leave.” Dedede leaned against the counter, hammer still in hand. 

Kirby sighed, understanding. “Come on Me-“

“ _ NO _ ! I am not going to fuckin leave!” Meta Knight shouted, stomping his foot against the floor harshly causing Kirby to jump back, surprised and almost scared. Meta Knight didn’t care, he was  _ enraged _ . “I didn’t fucking come here just to get the bare minimum of information and get kicked out! We still have six minutes!” Meta Knight stomped towards Dedede, wings slowly unraveling from his cape. The builder didn’t budge. 

“I gave y’all your damn info. I didn’t let in the shortass backstabber for anything else. There’s no other reason for you to be here. Leave, or I’ll make you,” Dedede stood his ground, leaning close to Meta Knight’s face. 

Meta Knight took a step back, barking a manic laugh. He combed his fingers through his hair, trying to push back the pain of the headache resurfacing. “And what are  _ you  _ going to fucking do?  _ Nothing  _ can touch me!” 

Dedede frowned. It was honestly gut wrenching seeing Meta Knight act like that. He tried not to think about them too much, especially since it always just brought a painful mix of emotions whenever he inevitably dwelled on the betrayal. But seeing him act  _ nothing _ like his old self and act so far gone, especially when he was just thinking of fond memories of how he used to be… it was cruel. 

“Kirby,” Dedede said with a deadpan voice. 

“...yes..?” Kirby quietly squeaked out, overwhelmed by the intensity. 

“Do you still have that shovelhead Taranza lended you?” Dedede’s frown morphed to a smug grin as Meta’s eyes widened. 

“Uh… yeah.. but I don’t really want t-“ Kirby started. 

“Just because you can phase through most contact doesn’t mean you’re untouchable,” Dedede snarled, holding out his hand.

Kirby anxiously eyed Dedede’s hand, before reluctantly using a little magic to summon the shovel. It materialized and dropped into their hands. Meta Knight took a step back, hand tightening his grip on his hair until he felt like he was about to pull it off. 

_ (-Why the fuck wasn’t his headache healing? _ -)

“Kirby.  _ Don’t _ ,” Meta Knight shouted, trying to scare the kid into not giving it over. He tried reaching towards it, but quickly gave up that idea. 

Kirby flinched at Meta Knight moving towards them, and quickly dropped it on the ground and slid it over to Dedede, who didn’t hesitate to grab it. “ _ Leave _ ,” Dedede repeated, dropping the hammer and holding the shovel with a frightening grip. 

“No!” Meta Knight stayed stubborn, wings flaring out aggressively, even if he  _ really  _ didn’t want to get hit with a shovel. He didn’t even know why he refused to leave at this point. He got the information, he could leave. 

“Meta Knight, come  _ on _ !” Kirby attempted to grab his wing, but Meta Knight instinctively pulled it back, ignoring Kirby. Dedede  _ really  _ didn’t want to hit Meta Knight, but he couldn’t stand him being in his shop for much longer. 

“If you don’t fuck off right now, I’m gonna make sure you go  _ crawling  _ back to Nightmare,” Dedede hissed, raising the shovel to show he wasn’t joking. 

Meta Knight could defend himself, but he wouldn’t. Hurting someone else was too far. He never wanted to fall that far into sour nature. The only reason he fell to the euphoria of breaking piñatas, was because he found out about the feeling through temptation. It terrified him that the same thing would happen if he hurt someone and he wouldn’t be able to resist. 

So he backed up, wings folding in slightly as he struggled to not instinctively cover himself. He didn’t stop until he hit the wall, completely forgetting about his ability to phase through almost everything. 

“For fuck’s sake-“ Meta Knight shouted, his voice slightly shaking. “WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I’M WITH FUCKING NIGHTMARE! HE RUINED MY FUCKING LIFE!” 

“And whose fault was that?!” Dedede shouted, taking a few steps closer. “ _ You  _ fucking joined Nightmare, and  _ you  _ let him destroy all our fucking work!” 

Meta Knight paused for a second, trying not to hiss in pain as his headache started to become unbearable. “I DIDN’T FUCKING JOIN HIM! I DIDN’T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN, I DIDN’T WANT TO BE LIKE THIS!” He practically screamed. He didn’t even realize how he could actually remember what happened clearly. 

Dedede paused, taking a step back, lowering the shovel. Kirby took a breath of relief, still very overwhelmed from what happened. His brows creased as he thought. “...if you can tell me exactly what happened I won’t beat the life out of you with this shovel,” Dedede sighed, sternly looking at Meta Knight and lowering the tool completely. Once the tension seemed to cool down, Meta Knight did too. He wanted to bang his head against the wall for being so idiotic, once his common sense returned. He hated how single tracked his mind was. 

“I…” Meta Knight started, pressing his hand against his mask as he tried to remember and ignore the headache.

(-Why the fuck could he remember this so clearly? Before he only had very vague specific memories of it, but now he could actually fully remember it.-)

“...I was a helper,” Meta Knight started, looking towards both Kirby and Dedede. He knew this information was basically useless to what Dedede was asking, but there was something freeing about being able to recall memories that were before forgotten. He continued. “Not sure what kind… but…I worked for you and...” Meta’s eyes widened with realization and he quickly looked at Dedede. “You were gone. I was in charge of the garden fully for a week.”

“I already know this,” Dedede was growing impatient. That earned a nudge from Kirby, who wanted to hear the story. Meta Knight ignored them and continued, smiling under his mask since he could actually remember something. Even if his head felt like it had a bullet in it, this felt amazing. 

“And…” Even if they couldn’t see his expression through his mask, it was obvious that his face fell with the way his eyes looked down. “I came back from the Inn and… something happened. Before it was so  _ easy,  _ but something happened when I was gone for such a little amount of time... I was… running out of chocolate coins and didn’t want to use your’s. There were so many damn weeds that I couldn’t get rid of before they would spread more… piñatas were sick and I couldn’t afford to pay them to get healed… I couldn’t even afford to leave to go get the doctor or get my savings. I don’t know what  _ happened _ ,” Meta rambled, starting to pace in circles as he spoke. Dedede recognized that familiar habit that Meta used to do whenever he got stressed or was rambling. 

“...I… I saw Nightmare… before he was well known, and… when everybody on Piñata Island was close. He offered a special candy that could help attract and tame that chewnicorn you wanted, and… since it has the ability to heal other piñatas I didn’t have much of a choice..” Meta’s wings slowly lowered to the floor as he remembered and realized more. Dedede started to connect the dots and a look of pity formed on his face. He didn’t know  _ what  _ was making Meta Knight act more like how he used to, but it felt like a cruel tease. To both Meta Knight and Dedede. Kirby started to feel awful for Meta Knight too as they began to realize as well. 

“....he told me that it was past the jungle.. I followed him,” Meta Knight’s voice grew quieter as he found it more and more difficult to remember the events. “It’s.. it gets blurry, but… he had some weird looking sour candy though I didn’t know that it was sour candy at the time. I think it was before sours were even a thing…” Meta Knight shivered as he vaguely recalled the events after. All he could remember was the agonizing, burning pain that felt like someone had thrown gasoline and match on him and let him burn. All he could remember was screaming out for help with nobody coming before blacking out. 

Meta Knight didn’t say anything, his wings slowly forming back to his cape as he wrapped it around himself. “There,” he huffed, hoping he would forget it again. “You fucking happy?” 

Dedede knew Meta Knight was still disturbed. Dedede had a face of pity. He always thought he willingly joined Nightmare. Through the way he acted and harassed everyone, it really felt like he did. 

  
  


“...you were tricked..?” Kirby mumbled, looking pitifully at Meta Knight. 

Dedede didn’t say anything. He handed the shovel back to Kirby. 

“We got the information we need,” was all Meta Knight said, before heading towards the door. Dedede didn’t make an effort to stop him, and watched as Kirby followed Meta Knight out the door. “Goodbye!” Kirby waved, before leaving and closing the door behind themself.

Meta Knight and Kirby made their way out of the village mostly in silence, this time with Meta Knight leading. It wasn’t until they were on the steep path leading to Kirby’s garden where Kirby finally said something. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” Meta Knight was quick to answer, the familiar irritated tone already back to his voice. “Just got a really bad headache.” Kirby recognized that he didn’t want to talk about what happened. 

“But you always got a headache,” Kirby said instead. 

“Yes, and that is because I’m sour,” Meta Knight said, groaning as he rubbed his forehead. “...though I wouldn’t be surprised if this particular one is from that candy I had earlier…it’s  _ a lot  _ worse than usual” 

Kirby frowned at that, still feeling a little bad about the whole thing. They decided to change the topic once again. 

“Well, you can go do whatever it is you do to clear your headaches!” Kirby started, skipping happily again as they saw their garden in view. “I’ll go and see if there is anything in the garden you can help me with!” 

“And why would I help you?” Meta Knight bitterly said. 

“Because I spent the whole day helping you, and all the information is basically gardening! So if you help me with the garden, there’s bound to be a chance that we fix you!” Kirby hummed. 

“Absolutely not-!” Meta Knight hissed, back to his regular self again. “I’m not going to waste my ti-“

“You have plenty of time to waste! You spend all your time in that tree, anyway!” Kirby wouldn’t let up. 

Meta Knight wanted to argue so badly, but he was tired. It was an exhausting day. 

He sighed in defeat, and muttered an irritated “fine.” 

There were many things worse than being stuck helping Kirby with their garden.


End file.
